Cabinet resolution #257 of March 4, 2024 

Decision-maker: the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 

Status: in effect since March 4, 2024 

Who is affected: representatives of national minorities (communities), the Cabinet of Ministers, State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (hereinafter — SSEC), State Statistics Service, local self-government bodies and their executive bodies, and research institutions and public associations of national minorities 

Summary: 

  • the Cabinet approved the procedure for determining the list of localities where national minorities traditionally reside or where they constitute a significant part of the population 
  • decisions regarding the recognition of a locality as a locality where national minorities traditionally live will be made by the SSEC 
  • to include a locality in the list, the SSEC will get official information from the State Statistics Service about the distribution of the population by ethnic origin based on the results of the latest nationwide census. If a locality meets the necessary requirements, the SSEC submits a draft resolution to add it to the list to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration 
  • the Ministry of Culture, Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, local self-government bodies and their executive bodies, research institutions, and public associations of national minorities can suggest including localities in this list. They must specify the name of the locality and provide information about the continuous residence of national minorities for the past hundred years there 
  • information about the residence of representatives of national communities in a certain locality over the past 100 years includes: 
    • data from official documents of institutions and organizations that operated in the territory of such a locality in the 19th and 20th centuries 
    • data from scientific, religious, or public societies that played an important role in the political, social, and cultural life of the locality from the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century 
    • documents on population censuses of Austria-Hungary in 1900 and 1910, Polish Republic in 1921 and 1931, Czechoslovakia in 1921 and 1930, Royal Romania in 1930, and Royal Hungary in 1941 
    • handcrafted and printed documents (works, private letters, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, documents of individuals — passports, certificates, extracts from metric books, IDs, — court documents, police surveillance documents), etc. 

What is right: the approval of the procedure will allow the law on minorities to be implemented and ensure that the rights of national communities are respected. 

Background information: in December 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law on minorities, and then made amendments to it to meet the requirements for EU accession. This law defines the basic principles for the protection of the rights of national minorities and additional measures to preserve their identity in localities where they traditionally reside or constitute a significant part of the population. 

Additional information:  

  • Ok, So What? podcast, ep. 136: Last (?) time we talk about the law on national minorities 
  • article by Mariia Ocheretiana: The law on national minorities as an apple of discord. Why does it provoke conflicts? 
  • Points Considered podcast, ep. 1: The law on national minorities: how to balance human rights and national security? 
  • Visible project, ep.1: Ukrainian Jews on national minorities policy 
  • According to the Law: The epic with the law on minorities ended, but there are open questions.